


i like you in red

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: AU, Coffee Shops, M/M, yeah sorry for the shitload of fandoms it's really only tøp with some background bandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 22:14:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6347680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Tyler is one of those stereotypical acoustic musicians who play at coffee shops and Josh is the barista with a crush on him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i like you in red

It's Monday morning, and Josh really, really doesn't want to go to work. 

It's not that he dislikes it; quite the opposite, in fact. His co-workers at Kingston's Coffee and Café are great people, and Josh gets tipped pretty decently. As decently as baristas are ever tipped, but it's a living. Sometimes, Pete will even give Josh free coffee after his shift. The only real problem with the job is the music. Specifically, Tyler Joseph's music. 

The sound itself isn't bad. In fact, Tyler's music is so good that it could probably get picked up by a major music label someday. No, the problem is that Josh is exceedingly gay and Tyler is really cute. And a musician. Basically, Josh's personal form of kryptonite. 

Josh groans and glances at the clock. The numbers say what they usually do: you're almost late for work, so get the fuck up. After a quick text to Pete, the acting manager, about traffic or some bullshit, Josh bolts out the door. 

He catches the bus just in time, chest heaving as he hands the driver his fare and settles into the nearest seat. The ride is fairly empty at this time of morning, save for a grumpy old man at the far back of the bus. Josh settles in for the ride, watching the trees and tall buildings move past his window. He's almost asleep when Gerard flops into the seat next to him and starts talking a mile a minute. 

"Josh, hi, listen, how do you talk to boys? Because honestly I don't understand how the fuck flirting works and so far all I've managed is a weak approximation of 'you're cute,' so, like. Help me out, man. What does one say to the cute boy they give coffee to every morning?" 

Gerard pauses to breathe, and Josh tries not to laugh at him. "Is this about who I think it is?"

The someone in question was, of course, Frank, a regular at the shop. Frank was only really notable because he had fucking awesome tattoos, and also because bought a different drink every time he visited, which was a lot. The coffee concoctions were getting increasingly complicated, and Gerard has insisted on making all of Frank's drinks, no matter the ingredients. Josh isn't quite sure whether Gerard's going to explode the coffee maker or the French press first. 

"No," Gerard sulks, "it's not about Frank. Give me some credit."

Josh just stares at him and raises an eyebrow. 

"Okay, fuck, fine! It's about Frank. Which is why I'm asking you, Josh, because you're the most tolerant of all my friends." Gerard pauses and grins in a rather confusing way. "Tolerant of bad romantic tactics, anyway. God knows Pete Wentz is more than tolerant about gay shit."

Josh laughs, exhausted. "Yeah, I know. Don't even get him started on Patrick."

Patrick Stump owns the rival coffee joint, Spotlight Coffee. Pete's hatred for him is legendary. Even more legendary is his massive crush on Patrick, which has been present since before Josh started working at Kingston's. Everyone knows about Pete's unfortunate choice in romantic affection except, of course, Patrick. It makes for some interesting stories. 

The bus rolls to a stop right outside the coffee shop, brakes hissing slightly. Josh takes half a second to glance at the building- large murals splashed on the walls, huge windows, and various signs for musical appearances plastered over the door- before Gerard yanks him off the bus. 

"Asshole," he mutters. Gerard just smirks at him. 

They slam the front door open like usual, and typical coffee house music overwhelms Josh's ears as he and Gerard approach the counter. Behind it, a rather irritated girl with blue hair plays idly with a coffee stirrer. 

Josh nods in her direction. "Hey, Halsey."

She shrugs back a hello, intently focused on her cuticles. "Hi, Josh. Joseph's playing today and I can't take your shift, so have fun."

"Fuck," Josh mutters. "Are you sure you can't?" He turns to Gerard in a desperate attempt to plead his way out of yet another shift with /Tyler Joseph/, but the guy just laughs at him. 

"Suck it up, Dun. Not literally, though, as Ty's probably straight." 

Josh thinks that maybe he'd like to murder all of his friends. 

"I hate both of you," he informs them, just as Pete appears from behind the kitchen door. 

"Stop complaining, Josh, it won't get you anywhere."

Josh snorts. "Speak for yourself. It sure hasn't stopped you from yelling about Patrick Stump whenever you have the chance."

Pete throws his hands up in exasperation, nearly upending the latte on the counter beside him. "That's different! Besides, I at least have held a conversation with 'Trick. You just kind of... what's the word?" He pauses, a fake frown crumpling his brow. "That's right! Hover."

Indignant, Josh steps closer to the counter and points directly in Pete's face. "I do not hover! There's no reason to go over there unless he needs coffee or something, which he doesn't because he's almost always singing. Asshole," he adds as an afterthought. 

"Well, you could always tell him how much you like his music," Halsey suggests as she prepares a drink for some twenty-something kid. 

"Or how much you want to bone him," Pete adds smugly. Josh goes red and is about to protest loudly, but he's distracted by Gerard. 

"Fuck, is that Frank?" 

Josh glances out the windows to see a relatively short guy rushing towards the building, head tilted down against the biting wind. 

Gerard curses frantically. "Damn, it is. Where's my apron?" He dashes off, presumably to find his apron, and Pete sprints in the same direction, probably in an attempt to sabotage him. Halsey watches both of them go with an amused look on her face. 

"Pete is really bad at being the boss," she remarks. "All he does is fuck around."

"Don't pretend you're any different," Josh retorts as Frank gingerly steps into the shop. A cold blast of air follows him in, causing anyone near the doors to shiver. 

"Hey, Josh," he says, sidestepping past the general mess of tables to the counter. "Is Gerard here today?"

There's a crash from behind the employees only door, and Josh groans. 

"Yep. He should be right out as soon as Pete stops trying to steal his apron."

Frank looks like he wants to ask, but he shrugs dubiously instead. "Okay."

Moments later, a rather flustered Gerard appears, trying to force his hair back into a semblance of normalcy. He is notably apronless. Pete follows him, looking smug. 

"Hi," he breathes, and Frank turns a bit red. 

Josh leaves Frank blushing at the counter and goes to the back to find his own apron. He can already tell it's going to be a long day. 

* * *  
What seems like hundreds of mindless hours pass by. Josh only leaves work once in order to go to his five hour Calc class (why the actual fuck had he scheduled that on a Monday, anyway?) By the time he gets back, Kingston's is relatively full. Halsey is gone from behind the counter, replaced by an incredibly energetic Brendon Urie. Resident coffee hipster Ryan Ross is also behind the counter, trying to look bored and cool at the same time. With Brendon around, neither of those tactics really work. 

The lighting in Kingston's has changed dramatically since the morning. Where sunlight had once been streaming in, there's now just studio lights, making the place look darker than it usually is. The café portion of the shop has opened as well, meaning baristas have to carry people's orders to their tables if they're eating in. And, like he always is on Monday afternoons, Tyler Joseph is stationed in the corner of Kingston's. 

Josh idly notices that he's closer than usual to the muffin case today. This isn't significant in and of itself, but the idea of Tyler being grouped together with the treats is pretty damn accurate in his eyes. 

As Josh pretends not to stare, Pete sneaks up behind him and puts an arm around his shoulder. "Admiring the resident musician, are we?"

"Fuck off, Pete," Josh says, not even missing a beat. He ducks under his manager's arm and goes to serve some table way on the other side of the room, far away from Tyler and his pretty mouth. 

He's handing an older couple their lattes when he hears Tyler tap the microphone. The regular coffeehouse music fades away in favor of Tyler's voice. 

"Testing?" he says nervously, and Pete gives him a thumbs up from across the room. "Okay, great, audio's working." Tyler sits back on his stool, ukulele balanced precariously on his leg. He picks it up and places his fingers in the right chord position before he speaks again. "Hey, guys. I'm Tyler, and I'm gonna play some songs."

With that, Tyler smiles shyly and bends his head over his ukulele, plucking out the first few notes of his opening song. Unbeknownst to himself, Josh begins to hum. While Tyler doesn't play the same set every show, he does tend to play a few songs constantly, and this is one of them. Josh has most of them memorized. 

Tyler starts singing, something about houses and maps and leaving town, and for a moment Josh wishes he could go over and hug Tyler after the show, maybe talk to him about something cool and give him free coffee until Tyler fell in love with him. Coffee makes anyone fall in love, right?

Brendon notices his distraction as Josh comes back to the counter and offers to switch places with him. "Besides," he adds when Josh protests, "it'll get you away from lover boy." For all his faults, Brendon is a pretty nice kid. 

Josh gets to work making drinks. He doesn't notice when Brendon slips a piece of paper to Tyler in between songs, and he certainly doesn't notice Tyler blush and put it in his pocket. 

* * *  
The next day, Josh has something waiting for him at work. A blueberry muffin sits on top of a napkin, looking out of place among the coffee cup hell the counter usually is. On the napkin is scrawled a note:

to that cute barista w the red hair and nice smile. and the great taste in music ;-). hope you like blueberries. 

After the note is a phone number. Josh programs it into his phone immediately, then goes to confront Pete about his secret admirer. 

When asked, his manager just shrugs. "Sorry, I didn't see anyone leave you a muffin. I was over at Spotlight, checking out the competition." From across the room, Halsey mutters something about "more likely checking out the competition's ass" before turning back to her work. 

"No, but seriously. Did you see anyone leave me anything?" Josh tries his best to make a puppy dog face, which only causes Pete to fall off his stool laughing. 

"Dude," his manager gasps from the floor, "you don't have to bribe me with dumb faces. I actually don't know."

Josh turns to Gerard and Halsey, but they simply shake their heads. 

"Sorry," Halsey says. "If you want, I'll keep an eye out for any more suspicious characters."

Josh shrugs and eats the muffin. 

* * *  
josh: hey muffin man

josh: did you know that using smiley faces with noses is the creepiest thing ever

unknown number: :------)

unknown number: :--------------) hello

josh: no

josh: do NOT

unknown number: would you actually prefer ;) ? be honest

josh: well as I don't know who you are, I think ;) is a bit advanced for our relationshit 

josh: *relationship. fuck typos. 

unknown number: our relationshit is awesome and totally deserving of ;)

josh: (no but seriously who are you)

unknown number: (meet me tomorrow at Kingston's? like 3pm?)

unknown number: all will be revealed then or whatever

unknown number: "all" in the sense of "who are you, mystery muffin man?" 

unknown number: not "all" in the sense of ";)"

josh: 3pm is good. I'll be there dude. 

josh: ;) bye

unknown number: ;-) bye

* * *  
At three pm, nobody shows up. Josh is mildly pissed about this. 

It's just the usual suspects at Kingston's today. He and Brendon are working the counter, Ryan's delivering food to patrons, and Pete's sat in the back of the café flirting with Patrick. Near the muffin case, Tyler is setting up his microphone. 

Josh pulls out his phone and surreptitiously texts muffin guy. 

josh: dude did you give up on me

There's no reply. 

Honestly, Josh thinks, he should have expected this. Nobody gets a secret admirer at a coffee shop unless they're in a dumb rom-com or something. More than likely the muffin was Brendon's idea of a funny prank. 

Tyler plays his songs, and Josh is almost too annoyed to enjoy them. Almost. 

Finally, after what seems like years, Muffin Guy texts back. Josh turns his back on the counter to check his phone. 

unknown number: look up

Josh turns around to see Tyler Joseph standing there, phone in one hand and a muffin in the other. 

"Hey," he says. "I'm Tyler. Do you maybe want to have a muffin with me or something?"

* * *  
Josh is still kind of in a state of shock, but he goes to sit down at one of the tables with Tyler. Brendon walks by a few moments later and deposits two mochas on their table with an annoyingly large grin on his face. 

"So you aren't straight?" Josh blurts, and then immediately covers his mouth. So much for being a cool person. 

Tyler laughs and takes a sip of his coffee. "I've had a crush on you since I started playing here, dude. Did you not notice me staring at you all the time?"

Josh hadn't. Probably because he was too scared to make eye contact with Tyler. 

"No," he admits. 

"Well, crap. Apparently my flirting skills are worse than I thought."

They regress into a comfortable silence. Eventually, josh decides to ask the question that's been on his mind since the muffin. 

"What made you decide to do that?" Tyler looks confused, so he clarifies. "The muffin thing."

"Oh, that! Your friend Brendon passed me a note last time I was here saying you liked me. Since I didn't want my first conversation with you to be 'hey do you like me,' I decided on the muffin thing." Tyler smiles at him, and Josh feels much more at ease. 

After that, the conversation turns to music. Josh could listen to Tyler talk about songwriting for hours. 

"Have you ever wanted to be in a band?" he asks when Tyler stops talking about the evils of his home recording equipment. 

"Yeah, but nobody's ever wanted to be in a band with me. At the very least I'd need a drummer."

A grin spreads across Josh's face. "I play drums."

**Author's Note:**

> bonus points if people got the references in the coffee shop names. also the ending lacks a lot so maybe there'll be a part two where I actually explore this relationship for once.


End file.
